Soil working device with cleaner

Abstract

The presence of rank vegetation or loose crop residue on the soil surface (straw, maize stalks etc.) is always troublesome to ploughs, cultivators, seed drills and other agricultural implements required to slice vertically through and penetrate the soil. In the illustrated embodiment of the invention (FIG. 1), the leading edge area of the knife coulter 10 of a seed drill 14 is continually cleared of trash by resilient disc-mounted cleaning members 16-18. The cleaning members comprise springs which have an outwardly positioned elongated section designed to be engaged by the ground or an abutment on the disc support structure to flex each member as the disc on which they are mounted is rotated. On losing contact with the ground or the abutment, each member will, in turn, spring back from a flexed position (member 16) to a relaxed position (member 17). During this spring back movement, the elongated section moves past or along the leading edge of the knife coulter and strikes trash therefrom.

I claim: 
     
       1. A self-cleaning soil-working assembly comprising soil-working element having a leading edge adapted to be moved in a working direction, a cutting disc having an outer periphery rotatably mounted ahead of said edge to form a vertical slit in the soil being worked which will be further enlarged by the following leading edge, and at least one resilient cleaning member mounted to the side of said disc so as to extend beyond the outer periphery of said disc so that as said disc moves through the soil, the cleaning member is rotated therewith and periodically flexed from a first position to a second flexed position and then abruptly released to rapidly spring back toward said first position through a significant arc along said soil-working element and said disc whereby matter retained on said leading edge and said disc is removed therefrom. 
     
     
       2. An assembly as claimed in claim 1 in which the resilient cleaning member is adapted to move repeatedly through a closed path so that it repeatedly engages and is released by means defining an abutment whereby during a first part of the closed path, the resilient member is flexed to an ever greater extent as it is forced against said abutment means following an initial contact therewith and during a second part of the closed path the resilient member loses contact with the abutment surface and springs back to, or towards, its relaxed position. 
     
     
       3. An assembly as claimed in claim 2 in which the resilient member comprises a base-mounted spring member having a coiled base section leading into an elongate section for engaging said abutment means. 
     
     
       4. An assembly as claimed in claim 2 in which the resilient member is mounted so as to use the top-surface of the ground over which the assembly moves in operation as said abutment means. 
     
     
       5. An assembly as claimed in claim 2 in which said abutment means comprises a support structure for the resilient cleaning member. 
     
     
       6. An assembly as claimed in claim 1 in which the base section the resilient cleaning member has a base section adapted to move bodily in a circular path about a substantially horizontal axis spaced from said abutment means by an amount significantly less than the projection of the resilient member from said axis when in its fully relaxed position. 
     
     
       7. An assembly as claimed in claim 1 including a plurality of said cleaning members equispaced along said closed path. 
     
     
       8. An assembly as claimed in claim 1 in which the soil-working element is a knife coulter, plough shin plate, cultivation tine, or like non-rotating element, or a rotary plough element, rotary cultivator element, rotary harrow element, or like rotating element. 
     
     
       9. A plough, cultivator, seed drill or like agricultural implement incorporating a soil-working assembly as claimed in claim 1. 
     
     
       10. A self-cleaning, soil-working assembly comprising frame means for supporting said assembly, a fixed soil-working element depending from said frame, a disc element depending from said frame and positioned ahead of and substantially in alignment with said fixed element and mounted so as to be rotatable, at least one resilient spring member fixed to the side of said disc so as to be movable therewith and between flexed and unflexed positions and having a length sufficient to extend from said disc to said fixed element so that during use, as said disc rotates, said resilient spring member can be repeatedly flexed between the flexed and unflexed positions and in springing back to its unflexed position, the spring member passes along a portion of the side of said disc and along a portion of the fixed soil-working element. 
     
     
       11. An assembly as claimed in claim 10 in which the resilient cleaning member is adapted to move through a closed path so that it repeatedly engages and is released by means defining an abutment whereby during a first part of the closed path, the resilient member is flexed to an ever greater extent as it is forced against said abutment means following an initial contact therewith and during a second part of the closed path the resilient member loses contact with the abutment surface and springs back to, or towards, its relaxed position. 
     
     
       12. An assembly as claimed in claim 11 in which the resilient cleaning member has a base section adapted to move bodily in a circular path about a substantially horizontal axis spaced from said abutment means by an amount significantly less than the projection of the resilient member from said axis when in its fully relaxed position. 
     
     
       13. An assembly as claimed in claim 11 in which the resilient member comprises a base-mounted spring member having a coiled base section leading into an elongate section for engaging said abutment means. 
     
     
       14. An assembly as claimed in claim 11 in which the resilient member is mounted so as to use the top-surface of the ground over which the assembly moves in operation as said abutment means. 
     
     
       15. An assembly as claimed in claim 11 in which said abutment means comprises a support structure for the resilient cleaning member. 
     
     
       16. An assembly as claimed in claim 11 including a plurality of said resilient cleaning members equispaced along said closed path. 
     
     
       17. An assembly as claimed in claim 10 in which the soil-working element is a knife coulter, plough shin plate, cultivation tine, or like non-rotating element, or a rotary plough element, rotary cultivator element, rotary harrow element, or like rotating element.